About Me

When not nosing, tasting, drinking and reading about malt whisky, I own one of Israel's premiere boutique coaching practices, specializing in small businesses and executive teams.
Trained in the law, I was an international law attorney and took part in Israel's peace negotiations with the Palestinians, as well as representing my country at the UN for parts of the negotiations on the implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Later I was appointed to the military bench.
My favorite thing, other than whisky, is teaching.
You can contact me through the social media buttons above or by email: michael(at)maltandoak.com, replacing the (at) with an @.

Statement of Integrity and Guidelines

Malt and Oak is an independent whisky blog, offering my own views, opinions and news from the world of malt whisky.
These are my guidelines:

1. All whisky reviews published are of whiskies I have personally tasted and noted. Guest bloggers only write about their own personal tastings.

2. With the exception of official whisky samples, I accept no consideration whatsoever from any distillery, bottler, distributor, drink company or store for my opinions.

3. I maintain strict impartiality and objectivity in tasting all whiskies, not least when tasting official samples. Any review of official whisky samples sent to me will be so noted in the post.

4. I will accept invitations to tastings, events and official visits, and full disclosure will be made on any tasting notes and articles resulting from these events or visits.

5. Any sample received over 30 ml in volume is shared with fellow whisky bloggers. In any event, no sample larger than 100 ml will be accepted.

6. No advertisements promoting specific brands will be accepted.

7. I will answer any inquiry by my readers as quickly and as fully as possible.

8. Should I give a link purchase the reviewed whisky, it will be given free of any commercial interest. The link given will always point to cheapest selling price I found on the web. No commission is paid, nor any other consideration given, for such link.

9. As of July 2017, I serve as Douglas Laing’s Israel brand ambassasdor. As such, I will obviously not be posting reviews of Douglas Laing products.

Posts Tagged “Linkwood”

For some, December is all about Advent Calendars and the countdown toward the holidays. For others, it’s about blind competitions and getting ready for vacations. With Hanukka bouncing around between late November and December, I took the route of participating in the 5th annual Usquebaugh Society 2015 blind tasting competition. So how it going for me? Not well at…

Linkwood is one of those endearing distilleries that are hard not to like. Linkwood is a classic Speyside malt, with a very fruity, floral and fresh character. This whisky plays a major roll in the Johnny Walker blends, including the now dis-discontinued Johnny Walker Green Label. The distillery uses a very long fermentation (75 hours),…

To start with I can tell you that the tasting was held in Finnish capital of Helsinki by our whisky club, The Fellowship of Whisky (VYS, Viskin Ystävien Seura), and this was the 14th tasting in a series called “The Rare and Old”. We did a similar tasting about two years ago, with the title “War…

Going through my tasting notes I just realized that yesterday’s 39.99 and the 39.92 are both ex bourbon hogsheads distilled in 1990. The 39.99 was distilled in April 1990 and the 39.92 was distilled in October 1990 and was exclusive to the Canadian market. Linkwood is a distillery that plays a part in many of Diageo’s…

My friend Richard Barr (@BarrRichard) is a miracle worker. The Society in London has a monthly event in which you get a steak dinner and five drams out of the new outturn, and like all society events, this one sells out quickly. I get to London only once a year or so, but Richard – a…